In this paper I will reflect on the key findings of my research into efforts in the last twelve years to address the anti-communist violence of 1965-68 in Indonesia. I will survey the organisations and people involved in attempting to address this past such as YPKP, YPKP 65, LPKP, SEKBER 65, ELSAM, Kontras, the Syarikat/Lakpesdam Network, ISSI, Shoe for Peace, Putu Oka Sukanta, Abdurrahman Wahid, Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariyati and the National Commission for Human Rights. I will probe the different motives behind these efforts and canvass the varied approaches to addressing this past including legal advocacy, research into the violence, mass grave identification, new historical representations of this period in memoirs, films and other formats and efforts aimed at rapprochement between survivors of the violence and 'implicated' communities (Morris-Suzuki 2005). I will also assess what has been achieved and the broader responses to these efforts. Finally I will reflect on what comparative insights this case study offers us into how societies deal with traumatic pasts.

Publication type

Seminar, speech or other presentation

Source

Invited lecture presented at the Indonesia Study Group, Australian National University, canberra, Australia, 25 August 2010